Full Description
Providing people with dementia with opportunities to engage in creative activity can play a crucial role in maintaining and enhancing communication, and in reinforcing personhood and identity. This thoughtful book describes how people with dementia, and the people who work with and care for them, can foster and develop a creative approach, and provides rich and varied ideas for creative activities.
The authors explore the concept of creativity - what exactly it is, its particular relevance for people with dementia and how to get into the creative 'flow'. They introduce a range of creative art forms, including poetry and story-telling, collage, drama, music-making, photography, textiles and working with wood and metal, and suggest possibilities for employing them in a range of settings, and with people of all abilities. Consideration is given to the practicalities of facilitating such creative work, including how to organise and run sessions, how to involve people with dementia and their carers, and how to reflect upon the experience. Practice examples are included throughout the book, as well as the comments and observations of people with dementia, and many examples of the artwork and poetry the authors have created with people with dementia over the years.
Brimming with ideas, suggestions and helpful guidance, this is an essential resource for all those who work with people with dementia, and an inspiring read for people with dementia and their families.
Contents
Introduction. Part I: Why the Arts? 1. What is Creativity? 2. What the Arts Can Do. 3. Getting in the Flow. Part II: What's on Offer. 4. The Food of Love: The Language of Music. 5. Moving in the Moment: Dance. 6. Giving Voice: Writing Poetry. 7. Making it all up: Improvisation and Other Dramas. 8. Telling Stories. 9. Conversations in Paint. 10. Playing with Mud: Ceramics and Clay. 11. Working with the Hard Stuff: Wood, Metal and Glass. 12. Textured Journeys: Exploring the Potential of Textiles. 13. Between Memory and Imagination: Collage and Life-Story Work. 14. Further than the Eye can See: Photography. 15. Putting the IT into Creativity. 16. Space and Place. 17. Taking it all in: Audience Involvement. Part III: Making Things Happen. 18. Getting Real. 19. Starting Out. 20. Drilling Down to the Detail. 21. Giving Creativity a Shape. 22. Measuring Success. 23. Making Space for your own Creativity. Part IV: Living it Out. 24. All Together: The Arts as Identity. 25. Beyond Grass. 26. Two Residencies. 27. Putting on the Ritz. 28. Ian and Me-ness. 29. Alan: Quick-change Artist. 30. Painting with Olivia. Conclusion. Further Reading. Index.
